Twinkle
by MermaidGirl34
Summary: Molly Prewitt has always hated Astronomy. For her, those long hours spent up in the Astronomy Tower are both frustrating and lonely. That is, until one day, everything became a lot more interesting...


**(A/N: This is written for the School Subject Competition on the HPFC forum under the category of Astronomy, which is a love story. Please enjoy!)**

The cacophonous drone of chatter filled the echoey circular room of the Astronomy Tower as a group of young witches and wizards filtered slowly in for their last class of the day, talking and gossiping like all teenagers do. Each student carried with them a small case, labeled with their names in blue ink. The cases were rather large and the students all promptly set them down next to their assigned windows gingerly, massaging their fingers, before quieting as their professor took the stage to give directions.

"Get out your star charts and set up your telescopes, please," Professor Sinistra instructed loudly, her heels echoing loudly on the stone floor. "Just like yesterday, chop chop everyone. We're wasting starlight."

She clapped her hands and all the young witches and wizards scrambled to open their telescope cases and set up their instruments.

Molly Prewitt was among those scrambling. She'd never been very good in Astronomy and her grade was struggling, at best. She had to do well on this star chart assignment or she was sunk.

She opened her second-hand telescope case with shaky hands and began taking the pieces she needed out quickly, mentally trying to remember which pieces she needed, which she didn't and which went where.

It gave her a headache just thinking about it.

By some miracle, she managed to get it all assembled and pocking out of her window at a forty-five degree angle in less than five minutes, which was a new record for her trembling hands. She was just adjusting the final gear on the lens triumphantly when it slipped out of her hands and rolled away from her with a large clatter.

It stopped at the feet of the boy at the window next to her.

Molly let out a frustrated sigh, aggravated that she had, at the last minute, messed up. Figures. She checked her telescope one more time, making sure it was secure, before turning to go retrieve the gear.

Only to come face to face with the boy.

"Oh!" Molly exclaimed, backing up a step in surprise. "Er…hello."

"Hello," the boy said rather meekly, blushing a fierce scarlet that turned his whole pale freckled face red. He was a good foot or so taller than Molly and looked down on her, though for some weird reason Molly felt like the one with the authority.

Molly cocked her head slightly, observing the boys features briefly—ginger hair, kind eyes and wire glasses—before her gaze shifted to the gear in his hands.

"Um, that's mine," she said awkwardly, pointing to it.

"Er, yes," the boy said, also sounding a bit uncomfortable. He looked down at it. "Yes…yes it is. You…you dropped it."

"Er, yes, yes I did," Molly confirmed, not sure what else to say.

"I, ah, came over to give it back to you," the boy stammered finally, looking up and meeting her eyes briefly, before looking back down. "Here."

He held out his hand with the gear.

Molly looked at it for a moment, before slowly extending her hand and retrieving the gear, before pulling her arm back to her side.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," the boy said, smiling weakly before he quickly turned to make his way back to his own telescope.

Molly watched him go, frowning, before opening her mouth on impulse and calling, "What's your name?"

The boy turned, a look of surprise on his face, like he didn't think she would ask. "Arthur," he said, after a moment of hesitation. "Arthur Weasley. Gryffindor second year. And you?"

"Molly. Molly Prewett," Molly said. "Also second year Gryffindor. Why haven't I ever seen you before?"

Arthur shrugged sheepishly. "I'm not very…social."

"Huh," Molly murmured. "Well, thanks again."

Arthur smiled, not quite as shyly this time.

"No problem."

~O~

Astronomy was not quite so lonely and tiring for Molly after that day.

Arthur never got any less shy, really, but he did warm up to her a little bit and Molly found before long that the boy was actually quite good at Astronomy and that he had no qualms with helping her out.

That's why when Professor Sinistra announced that their next assignment was a group project; Arthur was the first person that came to Molly's mind.

Arthur seemed delighted when she asked him to be her partner, although he also seemed a bit nervous about the idea. Molly had no idea why. What was so scary about a group project? They were only looking at stars.

But as they both set their telescopes up side-by-side at Molly's window, Arthur was almost a nervous wreck. He said nothing as he finished setting up his scope and purposely avoided eye contact with her as he gathered his star charts, quills and ink.

Molly was unsure how to approach this problem, so she too said nothing and set up her gear in silence. She figured he'd have to say something eventually. They were partners, after all.

She was right. Before long, Arthur cleared his throat.

"So," he said. "Er, okay. We should…we should probably get started."

"Yes, we should," Molly agreed. "What should we look at first?"

"How…h-how about the second formation? The Stag of Light? It's supposed to be the brightest so it should be easy to find," Arthur suggested nervously.

Molly shrugged. "Okay," she said, leaning over and peering into her telescope. "Which way is it?"

"It should be to your left," Arthur told her, looking intently at his star chart. "Next to the troll we found last week. Remember?"

"Yeah," Molly said, nodding and smiling at tad. Arthur had said that he thought the troll looked a bit lopsided and they had determined that one leg was much shorter than the other.

The boy certainly had a bit of charm.

"Right," Arthur said. "Do you see it?"

Molly squinted for a second, biting her lip, before pulling away and shaking her head. "No, I don't," she reported, discouraged.

Arthur frowned. "Really?" he asked skeptically, checking his chart again and fixing his lopsided glasses. "It should be right there."

Molly sighed and looked again but still could not make out the formation Arthur had described. "I can't find it," she said again.

She heard Arthur sigh as well. "Here, let me take a look," he said softly, and before Molly could pull away, he came up beside her and bent down, gently pulling the eye piece away from her and peering in.

Molly pulled back a bit, watching her partner work. Their faces had been very close for that short moment when he had taken the scope from her and Molly couldn't help but notice that his breath smelled like peppermints. What kind of boys' breath smelled like mints?

Unless…

Had he taken some mints before class?

For…her maybe?

Molly's eyes widened at the thought but she quickly shook it out of her head. That was preposterous. No way Arthur felt like that toward her…right?

She didn't have much of a chance to ponder it further, because right then, Arthur let out a triumphant "Ah ha!"

"Did you find it?" Molly asked, smiling.

Arthur nodded, his face still pressed against the telescope. "C'mere!" he said excitedly, gesturing her to come look widely with one hand.

Molly grinned at his enthusiasm and hurried over; crouching down next to him as Arthur gently moved the eye piece for her to see.

"Look hard to your left and you can make it out beautifully," he instructed, holding the eye piece steady for her.

Molly smiled and put her eye to the piece and looked to the left as he instructed.

And her breath left her.

Before her, through the telescope, was literally a stag. Molly could make out its proud head and large antlers without any squinting and its light was so bright it almost hurt her eyes.

It was…amazing.

"It's beautiful," she breathed, staring at the image with wide eyes.

"Isn't it?" Arthur excalimed, sounding giddy. "This'll be a great one to sketch for our project. We just need to make sure that the antlers are to scale."

"Yes, of course," Molly agreed, pulling away and looking at him.

For someone reason she felt her face go hot to see him still crouching next to her, their knees practically touching. He was still smiling like an idiot, too.

She must have been staring because Arthur's smile faltered somewhat. "What?" he asked.

Molly looked away quickly, focusing on her star chart. "Nothing," she murmured. "Let's start sketching."

She picked up her star chart and parchment and quickly moved to sit on the bench next to her window, tucking her hair behind her ear and beginning to draw the stag she had just beheld.

Arthur followed her with a tad slower of a pace, sitting down next to her on the bench with his own star chart and parchment in hand. He dipped his quill in his ink briefly before he also beginning to work quietly.

Molly felt her face grow hot. She had no idea why, but for some reason Arthur's presence next to her was incredibly unnerving. She felt giddy with nervous excitement and she found it hard to focus on her drawing as she found herself increasingly aware of the boy next to her.

Why was she like this all of a sudden? She had never felt like this when she was with Arthur before!

She bit her lip and shook her head to try and snap out of it. After a moment, she calmed down a bit and tried to get back on track. But before she returned to her work, she stole a quick glance at Arthur.

To her surprise, she found him to be just as jittery as she felt. His eyes kept wandering and he was tapping his foot in a nervous way.

There was silence between the two of them for another few minutes, neither person actually working.

Then, Arthur spoke.

"You know…the Muggles have this song they sing about the stars," he said suddenly.

Molly looked at him in surprise. "They do?" she said.

"Yeah," Arthur said, looking a bit nervous, like he wasn't sure how to tell her this. "We…we learned it in Muggle Studies. It goes like this."

He took a big breath, like he was going to do something very hard. Then he opened his mouth and began to sing.

"_Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are."_

He finished the song and held out the last note for a moment, letting it fade, before closing his mouth quickly and looking uncomfortable again.

Molly didn't really know what to make of that, but she was surprised to find that his voice wasn't all that bad.

"It's cute," she said finally.

Arthur smiled lightly. "I thought so too," he agreed. "It's true, too, if you think about it. They're all up there, so high above us, twinkling. It does make you wonder, doesn't it? What they are and how they came to be?"

Molly, in fact, had never thought of such at thing, but now found herself oddly curious.

"I suppose you're right…" she said thoughtfully, peering at the glistening lights strewn across the midnight sky above them. "They are a bit…mysterious."

"But at the same time, oddly comforting, don't you think?" Arthur commented, studying the stars with the same sort of curiosity in his eyes. "Knowing they are there, shinning light on us even when the world is dark. Giving us something beautiful to look at before going to bed at night."

Molly was silent for a moment, taking in this new view on the stars. Once again, this opinion had never once crossed her mind. And to her surprise, for the second time that evening, she found it oddly intriguing and interesting.

"You're right," she said again, her surprise somewhat evident in her voice. "I…I never thought about it that way. To me they have always been just…stars. Stars are stars."

"Yes, but they are more than that," Arthur said softly, turning away from the canopy of lights to look at Molly. "You just need to look passed the obvious and dig deeper. You'll be surprised what kind of diamonds you'll uncover if you just choose to look."

Molly stared at him for a very, very long time, transfixed by the serious but affection-filled look in the boy's eyes.

"How do you see those things so easily?" she asked him softly.

He smiled. "Practice," he said. "Just like with everything else in the world, eh?'

Molly sighed, rolling her eyes and blowing a ginger lock of hair out of her face. "Don't I know it."

"I can teach you though…if you want," he said softly, moving a bit closer to her and meeting her eyes. "To see those things. I bet you'd be surprised what you'd start noticing."

Molly suddenly felt short on breath. "Like?' she asked, her voice shallow and her heartbeat increasing.

Arthur smiled sheepishly, looking a tad embarrassed. "Like how I've noticed how your eyes sparkle like the stars and how you're hair catches fire like a phoenix whenever the sunlight hits it," he said quickly, struggling with the words.

Molly's mouth fell open, shocked.

"You…you noticed that?" she whispered, dumbfounded.

Arthur nodded, twirling his quill nervously in his hands and shifting his feet uncomfortably.

Molly was dumbfounded. "I…I didn't know you…noticed…me," she said, tripping over her words.

Arthur blushed a deep red and he looked down subconsciously. "I do," he admitted quietly.

There was silence between the two of them for a moment.

And then before she could talk herself out of it, Molly put a finger to his chin, pushed his head up to face her and kissed him full on the lips.

At first he was surprised, like he hadn't been expecting it, but slowly he relaxed and kissed her back, closing his eyes.

They stayed like that, locked together, for what felt like eternity but the same time only seconds.

Then Molly slowly pulled away, face flushed.

Arthur sat back looking dumfounded, staring at her in astonishment with his mouth hanging open slightly.

"That had to have been the cutest thing anyone has ever said to me," Molly said softly.

"What was?" Arthur said, sounding dazed.

"Everything," Molly said, grinning. "The song, your compliments…everything."

Arthur blinked. "Really?" he breathed.

"Really," Molly said grinning.

They smiled at each other for a while, both of them basking in their mutual feelings, before Professor Sinistra announced loudly that it was time to clean up.

They broke eye contact with each awkwardly at the sound of her commanding voice and jumped up to hurriedly to put away their telescopes, their shoulders brushing against each other as they moved and sending an electric current through both of them.

To Molly, it felt like the longest two minutes of clean up ever, and she was sure to Arthur it felt the same.

Finally, though, everyone had everything packed up and the class slowly began to filter excitedly out of the tower, more than ready to get back to their common rooms for the night.

Arthur and Molly were the last to leave, walking next to each other in perfect step, telescopes in hand and eyes downcast as they both headed in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower.

They walked in silence, until suddenly, Arthur stopped in his tracks.

Molly faltered for a moment and turned, looking at him in concern. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," Arthur murmured, his face red. "Just…you kissed me."

Molly blushed. "Yeah," she said, smiling sheepishly. "I did."

"Do you…does that mean…do you like me?" he asked questionly, eyes wide behind his spectacles.

Molly shifted her feet uncomfortably, looking down at her feet. "Well…yeah," she admitted softly. "Yeah, I…I think I do. I mean…yeah. Yeah I do."

Arthur let out a small breathy sound, looking at Molly with wide dilated eyes.

Then his face broke out into a sweet, happy smile.

"I…I like you too," he said quietly, laughing a bit. "I have since the first day of Astronomy."

Molly blinked, looking up at him in surprise. "Really?" she breathed.

Arthur nodded. "I didn't think you'd ever notice is me…" he admitted. "Since I'm…well, y'know. But when we started working together…I started to get to know you. And now…now I like you even more."

Molly felt a bit lightheaded. "Me too," she breathed.

Arthur smiled lightly. "Molly Prewitt," he said softly, eyes twinkling just like the stars Molly had been staring not long ago. "Would you…would you like to go out with me?"

There was silence for a long moment, in which Molly just stared at him.

Then her face broke out into a smile and her eyes began to twinkle too. "Yes," she breathed, beaming. "Yes, I would."

Arthur's smile widened and he strode a couple steps to meet her and hesitated for a moment before slipping his hand into hers.

"Do you wanna go study in the common room together?" he asked her meekly.

Molly thought about it for a minute before shaking her head. "No," she said, grinning a bit mischievously. "How about we blow of homework just for tonight and go stargazing out in the fields."

Arthur's eyes widened. "You want to go outside after curfew and look at the stars?" he breathed, shocked by her boldness.

Molly grinned again, her eyes twinkling as she looked deep into his eyes. "I'm not _always _a good little rule-follower, you know," she whispered. "I know a secret passageway out of the castle."

Arthur stared at her for a moment before he too smiled, his eyes twinkling as well as he looked into her eyes.

"Sounds like fun," he agreed, grinning.

Molly smiled and swung their intertwined arms back in forth a bit. "Let's go then, good sir," she said, laughing.

"Let's," Arthur agreed, squeezing her hand.

Together, they turned around and Molly forged ahead in the direction of the secret passage.

And both their eyes twinkled like the stars.


End file.
